Usually, seeing homeless people is no reason for joy. But in Budapest it is – last year, head of state Viktor Orbán and his right-wing national government passed a law criminalising homeless people for sleeping rough. They are given three warnings and then imprisoned. Thankfully, the law is not enforced everywhere. The criminalisation of homeless…
A voice for the children of Gaza
Yousef Aljamal. According to UNICEF, Israel is the first and only country in the world to establish a juvenile military court. Each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12, are tried and imprisoned by the court. Human rights organizations report that these children are beaten, tortured and placed in solitary confinement in…
Panama celebrates its black Christ, part of protest against colonialism and slavery
Panama’s ‘Festival del Cristo Negro’, the festival of the ‘Black Christ’, is an important religious holiday for local Catholics. It honours a dark, life-sized wooden statue of Jesus, ‘Cristo Negro’ – also known as ‘El Nazaraeno’, or ‘The Nazarene’. Throughout the year, pilgrims come to pay homage to this statue of Christ carrying a cross, in its…
For Some in Kashmir Marriage Equates to Sexual Slavery
In Kashmir there are thousands of young women who were sold in their teens by their parents to older men, and now living lives governed by restrictions which many equate to imprisonment. Photo by Stella Paul/IPS Haseena Akhtar was only 13 when an agent told her parents that they could earn a good amount of…
How climate change is driving emigration from Central America
Clouds of dust rose behind the wheels of the pickup truck as we hurtled over the back road in Palo Verde, El Salvador. When we got to the stone-paved part of the road, the driver slowed as the truck heaved up and down with the uneven terrain. Riding in the back bed of the truck,…
Brazil’s pigs help people produce clean energy
Pigs, already the main source of income in this small municipality in south-western Brazil, now have even more value as a source of electricity. The mini-thermal power plant of Entre Rios do Oeste, inaugurated on 24 July, uses the biogas provided by 18 farms, in a pioneering technical-commercial agreement in Brazil involving pig farmers, the…
Begging ‘professionally’ doesn’t make their poverty and vulnerability any less legitimate
This month, Victoria Police arrested seven people who were alleged members of a professional begging “syndicate”. They were flown in from China on tourist visas. In reporting this story, Australian media generated a considerable amount of public outrage. The idea that people who beg are somehow “faking” homelessness or poverty is one often used in tabloid media. Add…
‘It changed my life’: Ordinary people power Game of Thrones
‘THEY KNOW ME AS THE ANIMAL MAN OF NORTHERN IRELAND’ Kenny Gracey – medieval livestock owner It’s not just on-screen talent that has felt the Game of Thrones effect – its success has pumped millions into Northern Ireland’s economy. Besides tourists flocking to see the iconic locations, the show had more than 6,000 employees, putting local talent…
Bathrooms for customers only: Peeing with dignity in the city
Everyone needs to use washrooms, but public washrooms are hard to find. Just ask anyone with colitis, or who has ever cared for a child who really needs to go. Toronto, for example, has only one free and public washroom for every 9,213 residents. So, where do we go, when we really need to go? Whether…
The True Cost of Food
How much would you expect to pay for the most basic plate of food? The kind of thing you might whip up at home – nothing fancy, just enough to fill you up and meet a third of today’s calorie needs. A soup, maybe, or a simple stew – some beans or lentils, a handful…